Comment

Jean-Marie Weber, the biggest bag man in Olympic history

One of the most significant persons in the history of IOC marketing past away last week. In his daily and very personal tales from the Olympic hotel lobbies in PyeongChang, journalist and blogger Jens Weinreich wrote about the death of Jean-Marie Weber and his important role in the world of modern sport. Play the Game brings an adapted version in English.

Last Thursday, at the Intercontinental Hotel, I met IOC honorary member Issa Hayatou, longtime FIFA vice president and interim FIFA boss, until Gianni Infantino took over power after Sepp Blatter. Hayatou was traveling with his wife and looked better than at any time during the past twenty years, during which he spent days and days as a dialysis patient and in a very serious condition.

The disease is defeated, Hayatou said. He was in a good mood, he wants to focus on being well in the last few years, he does not want to talk about comic topics like Russian doping, FIFA or the Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF), where he set the tone for three decades. Issa Hayatou wants to enjoy his retirement, oh well, he's only 71 years old.

Why do I write this? Life constantly creates strange stories. It goes up and down, like a roller coaster.

A roller coaster of emotions.

Hayatou is doing so well. He once received bribes from the sports marketing company ISL that collapsed in 2001, and its ‘bag man’, Jean-Marie Weber. The IOC and its ethics committee did not think it was that bad. And Hayatou offered Weber a few small jobs at CAF until the very end. As did then IAAF president Lamine Diack.

At least two friends and bribe takers within the Olympic family did not forget Weber.

Jean-Marie Weber had a task.

This day, I also met with the former secretary of the ethics committee, who now holds the post of chief ethics and compliance officer, in the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel. Pâquerette Girard Zappelli laughed when she saw me, because she found my profile photo on Twitter (with the Olympic glasses) funny.

These meetings were a bit of a coincidence. First Issa Hayatou, then Pâquerette Girard Zappelli ... and three hours later I read a sad tweet from Patrick Nally that combined all this.

To those who do not know Nally: He used to be the partner of Adidas boss Horst Dassler and is one of the architects behind the top sponsorship-focused Olympic marketing system, which is in use today for the Olympic Games, the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Champions League. The system was refined by Dassler, Weber, the former ISL managers Jürgen Hempel and Klaus Lenz, Michael Payne, Richard Pound and a few others.

Patrick Nally’s tweet wrote:

I heard today that Jean Marie Weber. Horst Dassler’s ‘bag man’ and my bete noire when ISL stole my business, passed away yesterday. He cut a very sad and despondent figure at the end of his career. I hope he ‘sleeps in peace’

My sympathy goes to his family, sons and grandchildren. His wife died a few years ago.

Many people will be surprised by these lines. However, if you have followed my long-term coverage of Jean-Marie Weber, Horst Dassler, the Adidas and ISL bribe system, you will know that I liked Jean-Marie Weber.

In spite of everything.

The Alsatian was, at least in his last years, a sympathetic bribe payer, not a big crook. Not someone who enriched himself immensely. At the height of his power, as an ISL supremo in the 1990s, he was naturally also cold and brutal.

His work ethics were amazing, in every way. He was a trained puppet master.

He could be charming while at the same time stiff and dry. He impressed me with his opera knowledge. Wherever Jean-Marie travelled, he first studied the programme of theatres and opera houses. In this regard, he was a gourmand.

After my friend Andrew Jennings took his website offline, you may not be able to find as detailed information about the ISL affair and all its complications as on my blog. Incidentally, here you will also find the complete ISL bribe money list. I have had the honour of giving several presentations on the ISL system at Play the Game conferences.

The ISL corruption system was the blueprint for many other crooks who are on trial in Brooklyn. Anyone who has ever looked at the indictments in the ISL process and the US lawsuits on the FIFA family will easily see the similarities.

Jean-Marie Weber is one of the key figures in the Olympic marketing and corruption story.

Jean-Marie Weber, Horst Dassler's Adidas bagman + ISL director, passed away. He was the architect of the biggest corruption system in Olympic sports and created the blueprint for FIFA/CONCACAF/CONMEBOL criminals. Anyway, I had many good talks with him. Rest in peace, Jean-Marie! pic.twitter.com/l2flq9r7Wg

After a few years’ ice age, we were regularly in touch, Weber and I. The ISL criminal case in Zug didn’t change this.

One night, I paid for the red wine and the steak, the next time, he did.

Actually, it was Jean-Marie’s turn.

I knew for a long time that it would never happen. For a long time, he only perceived the world around him to a limited extend.

Jean-Marie Weber will take the remaining secrets from the gigantic bribery system of Adidas and ISL to the grave.

That's what he told me for the first time in July 2001, if I remember correctly, in front of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, just before Juan Antonio Samaranch ended his time as president of the IOC. At that time, Giselle was running, Samaranch’s favourite ballet. Samaranch, who died in 2010, was sitting in the front row next to Vladimir Putin. A few days later, Jacques Rogge was elected IOC President, then Beijing as Olympic City 2008. And a second Juan Antonio Samaranch, the junior, was admitted to the IOC.

Another coincidence: Last Thursday morning, on the way to the Olympic Club, I spoke about Moscow, Russia and his father's legacy, with Juan Antonio Samaranch, the current IOC Vice President.

Sometimes I do not believe in coincidences.

But someone must have been directing this.

To have that many stories and encounters that blend into each other within a few hours.

Here he stands, subject to unoffical, but effective ban, at entrance to IOC gala in Buenos Aires 2013, staring through Hilton's armored glass at people he used to bribe or carry bribes for. The loneliness of the bagman at the moment old friends feel an urge to wash hands. RIP. pic.twitter.com/oCeSPOfjZF

Jean-Marie Weber personally distributed most of the litigated 142 ISL bribe millions. He may have distributed a similar amount in addition to this on behalf of Horst Dassler. Dassler, the ISL founder and Adidas-Zampano, who died in 1987 of eye cancer - and who had also been, between 1985 and 1987, the boss and instructor of the man, who now serves as IOC president: Thomas Bach.

I found it amusing to listen to Weber's stories about Horst Dassler, whom he called his boss or maybe even his patron. Le Patron, because in Landersheim in Alsace, Dassler had his French branch, Adidas France.

More than two decades after Dassler's death, Jean-Marie would often say:

“You know, Herr Weinreich, how the patron was!”

But I did not know. Of course not. When Dassler died, I lived on the other side of the Berlin wall, deep in the east, and was a student.

Jean-Marie forgot again and again. And laughed about it, if I reminded him.

I would have liked to know more, though, and hear more stories about the Patron, who liked to call up his employees in the middle of the night, who did not care where they were or who they were with, they were always on the job - 24/7. He was a visionary and knew how to buy votes, people, events, associations – in West and East, South and North.

So, I took every opportunity to speak with Jean-Marie, always knowing that we would never cross certain lines.

“I will take that with me to the grave.”

This sentence remains. Jean-Marie not only said this to me, lawyers also have it on record.

Or:

“I would have to fear for my life if I told everything.”

Patrick Nally again:

He never planned or expected to take on the roll he did.He was a very loyal and trusted servant of Horst Dassler, he didn’t have the knowledge or imagination on how to respond following the untimely death of his Boss.He just continued to protect and be secretive as instructed.

Jean-Marie Weber, Dassler's secretary, accountant and money-broker, adviser to Havelange, Blatter, Hayatou, Diack, pay-off for dozens of top officials in IOC, FIFA, FINA, OCA, UEFA, IAAF, ATP, AIBA, FIBA, etc ... died at the age of 75 during the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang

Weber often told me that he talked to me and liked our meetings, because he appreciated a person that takes his job seriously. He learned to accept that I rummaged in his past and tried to figure out his business, like my friends Andrew Jennings or Jean-François Tanda and very few other journalists.

I once published tons of ISL documents with Thomas Kistner, a world exclusive, in 2001. We were also the first to report on the existence of the legendary bribery fund ‘Nunca’. Some of it can be found on my blog, nowhere else. The history of ISL and everything connected with it, the life of Jean-Marie Weber, is far from exhausted, far from fully described.

It never will be.

But the journalistic journey continues while Weber's journey is over.

Patrick Nally is right. Until the very end, Weber was a loyal servant to his patron Horst Dassler.

Guidelines for postingPlay the Game promotes an open debate on sport and sports politics and we strongly encourage everyone to participate in the discussions on playthegame.org. But please follow these simple guidelines when you write a post:

Please be respectful - even if you disagree strongly with certain viewpoints. Slanderous or profane remarks will not be posted.

Please keep to the subject. Spam or solicitations of any kind will not be posted.

Use of cookies

The website www.playthegame.org uses cookies to provide a user-friendly and relevant website. Cookies provide information about how the website is being used or support special functions such as Twitter feeds.

By continuing to use this site, you consent to the use of cookies. You can find out more about our use of cookies and personal data in our privacy policy.